


Battle Scars

by digitalduckie



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: M/M, Surgery Mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 02:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14510439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalduckie/pseuds/digitalduckie
Summary: A little semi-fluff where Redeye comes up with a story about how Royce got his scars.





	Battle Scars

When things first started, Redeye would dismiss himself immediately after their activities and Royce was inclined to appreciate it. It could only serve to reinforce the line between just fucking and something that would break Rule 4. As it progressed, however, there were occasions Royce would fall asleep and wake the next morning to find the DJ still at the Grille. And there were times the two would linger in each other’s company, catching their breath over pillow talk.

One such evening, as Royce exhaled a plume of smoke toward the dingy ceiling, Redeye spent his time tracing over one of his tattoos. It was only when his fingertips drew downward across his chest and then along a scar resting just below his pectoral that Royce began to watch. Redeye’s finger drew back and forth twice before he splayed his fingers and measured the mark against the palm of his hand. Royce had never realized just how long his fingers were; A shame that he was so poor at his instrument of choice despite it.

“How’d you get this one?” He didn’t move his head from Royce’s shoulder, his question practically directed at the scar itself.

“I paid for it.” Royce responded dryly. Surely Redeye had noticed he had at least a few that corresponded with the confirmation surgeries he had had. “It’s where they took out my breast.”

"Oh.” His sheepishness was accompanied by his hand going slack, resting just below the scar as if touching it was some sort of violation he hadn’t been aware of before.

"What exactly did you expect it was?”

Redeye gave it some thought, rolling over onto his back to put his hands in the air.

“I thought maybe, one day, you were wading through a river or something, keeping your guns up over your head, you know, to keep em dry and shit. So the water was waist deep or something, which I guess isn’t terribly deep because you’re not that tall-”

“Uh huh.” Royce propped himself up on one elbow, pulling the other man’s attention from the ceiling.

“Shit. I mean, you’re not much shorter than me.”

“I really don’t give a damn, Russell.” Though it was nice enough to watch him squirm trying to keep himself on the Overboss’s good side that Royce even smiled a little. “So the water was waist deep…”

“Right.” Redeye sat up, cross-legged in the bed as he continued his story. “It was waist deep and you had your gun up over your head to keep it dry, but suddenly out of nowhere this mirelurk popped up and with one of its claws- wham!” He slashed the edge of his hand against his open palm, illustrating the creature’s blow against Royce’s chest.

"Do you think anyone could seriously believe that? It’s too clean and precise for a mirelurk.” It wasn’t as though either of them were strangers to coming face to face with the creatures of the wasteland. They knew what sort of jagged and garish marks many of them could leave behind.

“Man, how am I supposed to know where you’ve been? It just seems like something you’d survive.” Redeye shrugged.

“And how would you explain the matching one on the other side?” Two breasts, both removed. Two scars, mirror images.

“It has two claws.” It was an obvious answer in which Redeye grinned, holding his hands up, fingers to thumbs like pincers.

He looked stupid, childish, and genuine. Pleased that, even if only for an instance, for a single evening, someone indulged him in hearing out a brief story. And Royce, for as unashamed of his history as he was, found himself entertained by the possibility of such an absurd alternative to tell others. It was enough for him to reach a hand up behind Redeye’s neck and pull him down for a kiss.


End file.
